GSA Chief Seeks to Cut Budget For Audits

Contract Oversight Would Be Reduced

By Scott Higham and Robert O'Harrow Jr.

Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 2, 2006; Page A01

The new chief of the U.S. General Services Administration is trying to limit the ability of the agency's inspector general to audit contracts for fraud or waste and has said oversight efforts are intimidating the workforce, according to government documents and interviews.

GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan, a Bush political appointee and former government contractor, has proposed cutting $5 million in spending on audits and shifting some responsibility for contract reviews to small, private audit contractors.